This invention relates to a modified lipase, to a process for modifying a lipase and to the uses of a lipase thus modified for nutritional and flavouring purposes.
Lipases are enzymes which are capable of hydrolyzing or esterifying emulsified fats. During this process, the fatty acids are released from the tri-, di- and monoglycerides. A lipase has its own specificity according to its type and origin. This may be a regio-specificity, for example in the case of a lipase of Mucor miehei which selectively cleaves the fatty acids in positions 1 and 3 of the glyceride, or a specificity for the substrate, as for example in the case of a lipase of Geotrichum candidum, or even a mixed specificity resulting from the two preceding properties.
Attempts have been made to change the natural properties of lipases by chemical modification to give them better solubility in organic solvents (cf, for example European patent Application Publication No.-149 520) with a view to improving their hydrolysis and synthesis activities in transesterification reactions in organic medium.